Ashen Phoenix
by Hayaki
Summary: Ashen Phoenix, a small mercenary company currently made up of five members: Ricochet, Ai, Recon, Doktor, and Bashnya. Their loyalties lie with whoever can pay them the most. They may have all grown up differently, but they all share one goal. Revenge. A team with no morals will work alongside a team of naive teenage Devils as the supernatural world engulfs them.
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** Here's a little extra story as I'm working on DRE and ELWSG. I've had this little idea in my head (plus a lot of others) for a while now, and so I decided to act on it. I might be doing more of these idea dumps in the future, but it'll be completely up to me whether I'll continue them or not. Juggling two stories and university at the same time is tough work, especially with finals coming up within the next week. Also, look forward to a very special extra episode to DRE coming up very soon.

* * *

Marie's silver barrel gleamed in the dim lighting of the ruined church as I continued to polish her. The metal reflected the image of a bored boy, just barely into adulthood.

" _You ejected the first bullet by hand, didn't you? Trying out a technique you've only seen in the movies in the middle of combat is a surefire way for you to get killed."_

I tucked the cloth away and inspected the reflection of my somewhat androgynous face. My hand unconsciously began tracing the single, large line that ran down diagonally through my eye and across my face.

" _Also, don't bother trying to dampen the recoil with an automatic. You're supposed to do that with a revolver."_

Sighing, I brushed my unkempt hair back and retied the shoulder-length ponytail I had let down earlier before putting on an unassuming, black eyepatch.

" _Engravings give you no tactical advantage whatsoever. But that was some fancy shooting. Pretty good."_

With all the holy bullets loaded into the cylinder, I gave her one good spin before holstering Marie and hopping off the ruined altar I was sitting on. I took a quick glance to my side at my 'partner', if you could even call him that, to see that he was kicking his legs and moving his head from side to side like a child while sitting on a pew. A crazy priest, and an underage mercenary, eh? Sounds like a pretty good idea for a comedy duo. What was his name again? Oh, yeah. Fred or something, right?

A high-pitched female voice crackled through the earpiece I was wearing as I was pacing back and forth throughout the church. _"Creator! There are three Devils closing in on the front of the church and two from the back! It seems the King and the Queen are at the back while the three at the front are a Pawn, a Knight, and a Rook."_

Time to earn that paycheck then.

I tapped the rogue exorcist on the shoulder and pointed a thumb at the set of double doors. "Look alive, Freed. Devils are coming."

"Hah? How the hell do you know that, bitch? I haven't sensed anything yet," the guy retorted as he stuck out his tongue.

I sighed and massaged my forehead. Explaining that I had tripwires set up all over the place that are linked to my A.I. companion would take way too much effort. Instead, I just walked out the back doors to the forest outside. Freed could handle himself, but those three won't stand a chance against the Crimson Ruin Princess and the Priestess of Thunder. Then again, I probably won't make much of a difference in that fight anyways.

As I continued making my way through the forest, I took Marie out and began twirling her around my finger. The sounds of Mittelt's screechy laugh reached my ears as I neared the area where they were waiting. As much as I hate how arrogant these Fallen Angels are, it's still my job to make sure they make it through this alive.

Sensing a large buildup of magic energy, I aimed Marie in the direction it was coming from and fired a single shot. The familiar kick from my revolver that shook through my arm brought me a sense of satisfaction. A second after the shot was fired; I heard a cry of pain come from the direction I fired the shot in. I continued to casually stroll through the forest until I reached a clearing where my employers were facing off against the Gremory girl, who was currently clutching at her bleeding hand, and the Priestess.

"You, why are you here? You were told to wait back at the church with Freed!" The Fallen Angel with the fedora shouted at me. I think his name is Dohnaseek. All these Fallen Angles and their complicated names.

"Seems to me like I just saved your sorry asses. So how about you show me a little appreciation?"

"Grrrrr. Why you filthy mercenary. I'll-!"

"Stop it, Dohnaseek!" Kalawarner warned, her navy blue hair swaying in the wind. "Now isn't the time for this. We still have to deal with those two."

Speaking of, looks like the Gremory's hand is all healed up now.

"Ai, set off traps four and twenty-two," I ordered.

 _"Roger that!"_

A second after I issued the command, a smoke grenade rolled out from a copse of trees to the Devils' feet and released its contents.

"Wh-what is this? I can't see," I heard the Gremory heiress say.

After the smoke had sufficiently engulfed them, a series of gunshots were fired from the shadows into the smoke. That should be enough to finish any normal enemy.

But… These aren't your average everyday goons.

A lightning spell suddenly came flying in my direction. In an instant, I had raised Marie and fired at the same time. The spell was successfully deflected by the bullet and instead was sent directly towards Dohnaseek. Whoops. Looks like he's dead, that is, unless he can survive a sharp bolt of lightning straight through the heart. That was just bad luck for him.

"Ara, ara. You're quite skilled with that, aren't you?"

That must be the Priestess talking.

"Only the best," I replied.

"I certainly hope that's true, or else this will be dreadfully boring."

The smoke cleared from a sudden blast of wind to reveal the duo of Devils to be completely unharmed from the previous assault. Smoking bullets lay scattered all around their feet.

Both Kalawarner and Mittelt were still in shock at the sudden death of their comrade that they hadn't noticed the two Devils were now free to wreak havoc. This was incredibly annoying. If that didn't take care of them then there's absolutely no way for us to win this fight, even with all the traps I had set up.

"Tch," I clicked my tongue. "What a pain in the ass. Hey Kal, Mitt, we don't stand a chance against these two so why don't we surrender and end this peacefully."

The short blonde Fallen Angel whipped around and stared at me like I had grown a second head.

"What?!" Mittelt shrieked. "Are you an idiot? Why would we surrender when we're so much better than them?"

"Maybe because Dohnaseek just got killed in one hit by a low power spell," I pointed out.

"He's right, you know," Kalawarner said.

Mittelt pulled at her blonde pig tails in frustration. "Not you too! Why are the both of you such pansy asses?"

"I'm just saying that we should make a tactical retreat! We can fight them later when we're at an advantage!" The blue-haired Fallen Angel retorted.

I sighed and massaged my forehead to try to quell the growing migraine I was having as the two Fallen Angels began arguing with each other, completely forgetting about the Devils standing in front of us. Why the hell did I let myself get hired by these idiots?

It looks like the two Devils are just as confused as I am. Holstering my revolver, I began walking up to the pair with my hands in the air. The both of them immediately readied their hands to cast a spell.

"Look, you two. How about just letting the three of us go?" I suggested.

"Hoh?" The Gremory heir narrowed her eyes. "And why should we do that?"

"My loyalties are flexible. If you buy my services, then I'll do whatever you want me to do. As a plus, I'll keep those two Fallen Angels in check so you'll have more firepower backing you up."

She appeared to think for a brief moment before asking, "And just how much do you cost?"

"Oh, I'm a fairly cheap guy. Going rate is 10k a month. I'm sure someone like you would consider that pocket change. Of course, you'll only be paying for me. Those two won't cost you a penny. Pretty good deal, right?"

The red-haired girl hummed before she glanced at her Queen for her opinion.

"I say we hire him, Buchou. He's a fairly infamous mercenary in the Underworld, after all," the Priestess stated. "Isn't that right, Ricochet?

"I'm flattered that the Priestess of Thunder would deem myself worthy enough to know about."

"Ufufu. Well, you did make quite an impression on some high-ranking Devils it seems."

"Akeno," the Ruin Princess interrupted. "Do you know this person?"

"No, not personally, but Lord Sirzechs and Grayfia are quite familiar with him."

After hearing that, the Gremory turned to me with a puzzled look on her face. "You know my brother?"

I nodded. "I ran a few jobs for him in the past with a partner of mine."

"Well, if my brother thinks you're good enough, then I don't see why not." The red-haired girl held out her hand for me to shake. "You'll get your payment tomorrow. I look forward to working with you."

I took her hand and we shook. "Much obliged, boss. As long as you're paying me, I won't let you down."

Looks like I won't have to worry about finding work for quite a while now anymore. As long as I prove myself to be useful, I'll probably be set for life. Now, to deal with the Fallen Angels. When I returned my attention back to the idiots, I saw that they were still going at it.

I unholstered Marie, and fired the last four shots into the air at the two Fallen Angels. Each shot hit their mark as a hole appeared in each of their wings. The two Fallen Angels screamed in pain at the sudden attack before plummeting towards the ground and landing in a heap of tangled limbs.

In the next second, I had snapped on a pair of special sealing handcuffs on the both of them.

"You traitor! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Mittelt screeched.

Kalawarner growled and tried to break free from her bindings. "What are these? I can barely even move..!"

Ignoring the two Fallen Angels, I radioed in to home plate for support.

"Bashnya," I said. "Is Recon back yet?"

" _Da,"_ the rumbling voice of the giant Russian man returned.

"Good. Tell her we have two packages for pick up at my location. And tell Doktor to prep some first aid as well."

I didn't bother waiting for a response since I knew I wasn't going to get one. Bashnya was definitely a man of few words, but once you really got to know him, you'd see that he has a heart befitting the size of his body.

"You won't have to worry about those two anymore, boss. My partner'll take care of them," I explained as I turned back to my new employers.

Looks like my boss was just finishing up having a private discussion with her second-in-command.

"Very well," The red-head nodded before she began walking towards the church with the Priestess close behind her. "I'll trust you for now, but just know that if you betray me, I'll take it upon myself to destroy you."

"Don't worry. As long as someone doesn't outbid you, you have nothing to fear."

By the time we got back to the church, my former employer, a Fallen Angel by the name of Raynare, was lying unconscious on the ground. I guess Freed must've bailed since he's nowhere to be seen.

I stood at the side and watched as the Priestess summoned a ball of water in the air before dropping it on the Fallen Angel's face. Almost instantly, she woke up and began coughing and spluttering. She took one quick glance around her before her gaze settled on me.

"Ricochet! What are you doing just standing there for? Get rid of these Devils!" Raynare shouted.

Kicking off the wall I was leaning against, I drew Marie and casually walked up to the cornered girl. I leveled the barrel of the revolver at her head and placed my finger on the trigger. "Sorry, but these Devils are my new employers. Unfortunately for you, they have a lot more money than you would ever have."

"What?! You traitor! I knew I shouldn't have trusted a filthy mercenary like you! When the others get here I'll make su-!"

"You mean these?" With my other hand, I pulled out three jet-black feathers from inside my pocket. "Dohnaseek is five-feet under, but the other two are alive and well, albeit, they're going to be having a small change in loyalties."

Raynare's eyes widened at the sight of the feathers, and she fell deathly silent. Drips of water began falling from her face as she began crying. That was fast. As expected from her though. Her silver tongue was nothing to laugh at

"Please! Please, please, please! Don't kill me!" She begged as she changed her voice. "Issei, save me! These Devils are going to kill me! Don't you love me? I love you, so please help me!"

I looked behind me at the person she was directing her pleas for help from. So that's the poor sucker she tricked and killed earlier. He does look like the type to fall into a trap like that. I could see he was trying his hardest not to listen to the Fallen Angel's demands.

Sighing, I pressed Marie against Raynare's temple and slowly tightened my finger on the trigger. Her cries for somebody to save her grew more, and more desperate as she saw her impending death crawling towards her. Closer, closer, until finally…

Click.

I smiled as I raised Marie and tucked her away before turning and walking towards the brown-haired boy.

"You're strong," I said as I placed a hand on his shoulder. "Most guys your age would've cracked under her mental attack."

"You didn't kill her?" He stared back at me surprised.

"Ah, looks like I forgot to reload my bullets. Somebody else is gonna have to finish it." I shot a look at my new boss, and saw her shaking her head and sighing.

As I began walking away, I heard a large explosion as the Gremory unleashed her magic and completely vaporized the Fallen Angel.

Hm... I wonder what we're having for dinner tonight.

* * *

"Boss, welcome back," a deep voice with a heavy Russian accent said.

I was greeted by a tower of a man dressed in a frilly pink apron with heart prints all over it holding a metal ladle once I had gotten back home. This kind of sight was fairly common for me already so I didn't bat an eyelid at the juxtaposition.

"Hey, Bashnya. What's for dinner tonight?"

"Stew."

"Sounds good. Is Recon taking care of our guests right now?"

"Da."

This was how almost all our conversations went. It was honestly pretty tiring dealing with his one word answers, but that's just how he is. The giant went back to the kitchen and hunched over the stove and a massive pot while I passed through the hallways of the mansion to a set of metal doors. I knocked on it twice before the doors seemingly swung open themselves.

"Doktor," I called out. "You in here?"

"Ah, Führer! There you are. Let's get started on the check up right away," an kind voice with a slight German accent said from behind a stack of assorted machinery.

"Right, and I thought I told you to clean the place up a bit," I said as I began navigating my way through the treacherous room. There were heavy duty tools discarded haphazardly on the floor and robotic limbs were piled up high in a corner of the room. To put it simply, a mess wouldn't be a good enough word to describe the state this room was in. Once I had finally reached it, I sat down on the medical examiner's table and stripped down to my underwear. Meanwhile, a balding man with a pair of round spectacles walked out from behind a set of electronics.

"Oh, but I did!" Doktor exclaimed as he gestured towards yet another pile of limbs. "Your spare prosthetics are all sorted right over there. See?"

Right… I had nearly given up on fixing the man's habit of being disorganized. At first, I had actually bothered to help clean the room, but by the next hour, it'll be like it was before. Eventually, I just settled for trying to convince him to do it himself. Not that it helped.

"Hm…" The man hummed as he took off my metal right leg and inspected the stub that ended at the knee. "Yes, yes. Good. You have been using the ointment properly, no?"

"Of course," I replied. "You're one of the best in terms of prosthetics right? That means I should probably listen to whatever medical advice you have for me."

"Hahaha! Well said! However, you must also remember that I lost my medical license, yes?"

"That was due to foul play, though. We've been over this many times already, Doktor."

"Well I did experiment on many humans. Surely that is enough to warrant a loss of my job."

I sighed. "Whatever. We're not having this talk right now. If there's nothing wrong can I go now?"

"Hoho. Eager to see what Recon is up to, no? Very well. Everything looks fine, Führer." Doktor said as he stood up and went back behind the pile of electronics.

After I strapped my prosthetic leg back on, I tested it out before getting up and walking to the doorway. I stopped midstride when Doktor called out for me.

"Führer! Just so you know, Ai's body should be finished within a day!"

"Good to hear. I'm sure she'll be happy with it."

I stepped out of the room and the doors swung shut behind me. Guess I'll go check on how our guests are doing now. Hopefully, Recon hasn't already completely broken them. The steady click of my steps was all that could be heard as I strode through the empty hallways. We had come across this abandoned mansion a couple of years ago, and had re-purposed it into our base of operations. It took a lot of work to rebuild the ruins, but with Bashnya's help it didn't take too long. We had mostly restored the exterior to look like a normal ordinary mansion, but the renovations made to the inside were far from what a normal mansion should have. Things like an armory, a prison, a secret training room, multiple escape routes, and built in defenses were all added by us.

After pressing a hidden button on floor and holding it for nine seconds, a section of the wall slid open, revealing an electronic keypad with a variety of random symbols and letters taken from languages all over the world. I entered the password, and a portion of the floor flipped open to reveal a staircase leading down into the darkness. As I headed down the flight of stairs, the sounds of terrified screaming became more and more apparent until I finally reached the underground prison area. The screaming appeared to have been coming from one of the cells furthest down the row. Sighing, I walked up to the side of the cell door in question, and tapped a button next to a microphone.

"Recon, if you break them, then they'll lose their worth. Try to tone it down."

The screaming stopped as soon as I said that, and the door to the cell creaked open. A mixed scent of burnt flesh, ammonia, and blood wafted out of the open door, forcing me to cover my nose at the rancid stench. Soon after, a tall blonde woman with long wavy hair stepped out of the room dressed in a grey jumpsuit zipped completely down so that it revealed almost her entire front.

"Ah, Ricochet, you're back. Don't worry, the new toys you brought back aren't broken yet."

"Just…Do your best not to kill them. All the human prisoners we brought back all died because you lost control and went too far with them."

Recon's tongue snaked out of her mouth and licked the corner of her lips as she placed a hand on her cheek. "Can you blame me when such a beautiful symphony resulted from my conducting?"

"Whatever," I sighed. "We need more people working with us, and the fact that all of us are only human means we can only do so much. Having two Fallen Angels fighting alongside us will make things considerably easier."

"Sure. Roger that, Ricochet. I'll try my best."

With that said she slipped back inside the cell and closed the door. I questioned her sanity sometimes with how obsessed she was with torture, but she was an unparalleled sniper. In fact, if I hadn't gotten lucky during our first meeting, I most definitely would've died.

Not wanting to stay in the dungeon any longer, I made my way back up via a different set of stairs. After typing in a different password into another keypad, a hatch opened and I climbed out of it and into my personal room. Hundreds of monitors and keyboards lined the walls and there was a small bed tucked into the corner. The ground was lined with cables running to and from servers, computers, outlets, monitors, and cooling units.

"Creator, you're back!"

I smiled as the visual of a small girl with pink twintails dressed in a white sundress blinked into existence on one of the main monitors.

"Hi, Ai. Once again, thanks for your continued help."

"Ehehe~! That's my job, after all!"

Even though she may be an A.I., she's managed to learn and to think for herself somehow. My first version of Ai just had her running and maintaining our bases, but eventually, as I upgraded her over the years, she began developing a personality. I have no idea how she managed to do so, but she just did one day, and ever since she's been growing and learning by herself. That's why I had Doktor try to create an artificial body for her.

Indeed, this was our little band of misfits; an ex-KGB operative, a bionics surgeon that lost his medical license, a sadistic sniper with near 100% accuracy, a self-learning, self-aware A.I., and an underage mercenary. People from all over the world, brought together for one reason, one purpose, one motivation.

Revenge.

To kill those who wronged us in the past, to make them suffer, and to finally get closure. Bashnya, whose whole squad, was sent unknowingly into a suicide mission, Doktor, who was framed by a close friend and colleague for plagiarism and malpractice, Recon, who had her entire hometown burned and razed to the ground by a different mercenary company, and finally, Ai and me. She had no grudges, but she wanted to support mine wholeheartedly. I honestly don't remember if I had programmed that into her, or if she came to that conclusion herself, but it didn't matter. As long as I got revenge against the man who killed my mentor and destroyed everything he built, I would be happy. Until then, it's just all about survival. These are our goals, these are our lives. We are soldiers without borders, without names, without honor. From the depths of hell itself to the outer reaches of heaven, we will do anything it takes to complete our mission. Together, we are Ashen Phoenix.

* * *

It didn't take Bashnya very long to get all the paperwork ready for my entry into Kuoh, in fact, it probably only took him ten minutes. So here I was, waiting outside the door to a classroom, waiting for the teacher to call me in. I fixed the plain white eyepatch on my face as I went over my cover story in my head.

I was an exchange student from Europe, more specifically, England. My scar originated from a horrible car accident. I have mixed parents which is why my features are so ambiguous. That should be the important bits. If any other questions arise, I'll just make some stuff up.

"You may come in and introduce yourself, er… Jyagar-san?"

Guess that's my cue. Stepping into the room, I took a quick scan of the room, and my gaze was caught on a familiar face. It was the brown-haired boy from yesterday that Raynare killed. She said that he only possessed the Twice Critical, but I kind of doubt that Sacred Gear could beat her like that.

I walked up to the blackboard and wrote my "name" once in English and once in Katakana, before I turned around and did a short bow.

"My name is March Jaeger," I said with a plastic smile. "I'm a foreign exchange student from England, so I hope to get along well with everyone."

Almost immediately after my self-introduction, the teacher directed me to an empty seat near the brown-haired boy. I sighed as I mentally prepared myself for the oncoming borefest that is the education system. Unfortunately, this was the easiest way for me to stay close to my employer so I'll just have to bear with it.

As the day dragged on, the other students all swarmed my desk at any chance they could in order to ask me questions, of course, the first one anyone asked was about my eye. The next one, was if I had a girlfriend, and quickly following up after I said no, was "I'll be your girlfriend". Was this seriously how all new students were treated?

By the end of the day, I was completely exhausted at all the attention I was getting. Even after classes had ended, people were still coming up to me and trying to get me to join them for karaoke or to go eat. It was all a bit overwhelming, to be honest. I grew up on the battlefield, so I hadn't exactly had an opportunity to interact with other people my age like this.

The excitement should probably die down in a couple of days. Until then, I'll just have to bear with it.

Currently, I was standing in front of a set of makeshift targets in the Occult Research Club's room as I had just been indoctrinated despite the fact that I wasn't a Devil. My boss had explained the situation to the other club members; Himejima Akeno whom is the Queen and also the Priestess of Thunder, Kiba Yuuto whom is a Knight, Toujou Koneko whom is a Rook, Hyoudou Issei whom is a Pawn and also the brown-haired boy in my class, and finally, Asia Argento. When she saw me, she had leapt into my arms and began sobbing and saying how she was worried that she'd never get the chance to ever see me again. I honestly didn't think that I had left such an impression on the former Holy Maiden. After the short reunion with the girl, my boss, or rather, Buchou wanted to see what I could do.

The members of the club all watched as I slowly and methodically loaded in bullets into Marie. Once all six shots were loaded in, I spun the cylinder once before walking to the other side of the room and taking aim at the cans. I quickly shifted my aim to the side towards Issei before firing a single shot.

"Eek!"

The boy screamed in surprise as the bullet whizzed past his head. There was a clang as the bullet hit a metal shield that was hanging on the wall before it flew towards one of the cans and knocked it off its stand.

"Hey! What the hell was that for?!" Issei yelled at me with a fist raised.

Ignoring him for now, I continued firing shot after shot at various metal objects around the room until all six cans were lying on the ground. I spun Marie once around my finger before slipping her away under my blazer.

"That must be why they call you Ricochet," Buchou clapped, and commented.

I nodded and turned around to face the group.

"It was the name I earned after running a lot of missions. Although, to be honest, it was my mentor who taught me all the tricks I know."

That's right, the man who took me in when my life had been driven to the deepest pits of hell. At five years old, I had been abandoned and had to survive and live in the streets. Of course, that didn't last very long when I was snatched by slave traders and sold off to some rebel forces in the Middle-East. There, I was trained as a child soldier. I was taught how to shoot, how to kill, how to trick the enemy soldiers into lowering their guard before sticking a knife through their neck. By the time I was eight, I had already lost count of the amount of people I had killed. But that was also when I met my mentor. He took me, and all the other child soldiers in after he finished his job of crushing the rebellion. It was with him when I learned how to live the life of a true soldier. We traveled across the globe along with his mercenary company, inserting ourselves into warzones all over the place. The only allies we had were ourselves.

When I was thirteen, though, everything went to shit. We took a job to protect some kind of ancient artifact. Everything was going fine, it seemed, until an explosion killed half our squad from out of nowhere. It was a massacre. We never stood a chance, I mean, how could we have stood a chance when our enemy was a Fallen Angel, spoken about in holy texts? That… monster, Kokabiel, wiped us all out, in less than a second, but somehow, I had survived. My mentor had hid me and shielded me with his body. After that, the company fell apart without its figurehead. No matter how hard I tried, people kept leaving and, before long, only I remained. It was at that time, when my burning desire for revenge arose. I wanted to tear apart that Fallen Angel that stole everything I loved away from me, but to do that, I had to first rebuild Blazing Phoenix. So I changed the name to something more fitting, and began travelling the world with the remaining funds the company had, and taking jobs wherever I could find them. During that time, I met with the other members of my current team. My first encounter with Recon was as enemies. She had stationed herself outside a village in Africa to keep the corrupt military forces out of it. Luckily, I saw the glint of her barrel before her shot and move out of the way, but I still got pinged in the shoulder. Later on, after the misunderstanding had been cleared up, I helped her ambush and repel the military forces. That was when she decided to join me. Next, I met Doktor when passing through China. After he had lost his medical license, he left Germany and went to China to continue his research and work. It was a chance encounter when we met him. Since he really didn't have anywhere else to go, he agreed to join us. Finally, Bashnya. He was camping out in the wilderness in Russia after he deserted the KGB. My leg got blown off by one of his traps as we were unknowingly passing through his hideout. Again, he joined us because he had nowhere else to go. After another year of wandering, here we are in Japan.

But, that's enough reminiscing.

My attention returned to the current conversation.

"Your mentor?" Buchou asked.

I waved off her questions and answered back, "That's all you need to know. Let's keep our relationship strictly business, shall we?"

Although she looked disappointed, she relented and ceased any further questioning.

"March, here you go."

Looking in the direction the voice came from, I saw Akeno holding out a cup of tea.

"Ah, thanks."

Taking the cup and taking a sip, I leaned back against the wall and proceeded to watch Buchou explain the history and structure of Devil society to Asia. There wasn't anything I already didn't know, but it couldn't hurt to refresh my memory. Halfway through the explanation though, my phone began ringing and I had to excuse myself. Checking the caller ID, I saw that it was Recon.

"Yes? It's me," I answered as I flipped open the cell.

" _Hey, Ricochet, or I guess I should probably call you March, huh?"_ Recon's voice came through the speakers.

"That's right, you should. Now, what're you calling for?"

 _"You know our two guests?"_

Oh god… Don't tell me their dead. I told her to be careful!

"Yes. I do," I answered, dreading the reply that was coming.

" _Well, good news, and bad news. Which do you wanna hear first?"_

I massaged the bridge of my nose to try to suppress the small migraine I was probably going to get.

"Let's hear the bad."

" _Right. Well, I might have gone a bit too far, and now the doc has to patch those two up."_

Breathing a sigh of relief at the fact that Recon didn't end up killing two more potential recruits, I felt my mind ease up.

"Okay… What's the good news?"

" _They decided to join us."_

That's doubly good then. They'll be able to start running missions for us.

"Alright. Good work. I have some more errands to run today, so keep me updated on their status."

" _Roger that."_

I ended the call and slipped my phone back into my pocket. Yes, I still have to deal with that pesky bird that's been peeking through the window into the club room all goddamn day. Making my way outside, I slid a small throwing knife out from inside my sleeve and palmed it. There it is. I aimed, and threw the knife, its sharp edge cutting through the air before it embedded itself into the small bird's body. In the next instant, the bird disappeared in a puff of smoke.

There was a chance that it was just Sirzechs checking up on his baby sister, but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be so secretive about it.

For now, I'll let it be, but if whoever it is keeps showing up, I'll have to take action. After all, that's also part of the job.

* * *

By the time I finished up my errands it was already dark outside. I sighed as I lugged the ten sagging grocery bags I had in my hands through the semi-lit streets. Just as I was rounding a corner, I dodged backwards as an extended pole was thrust out in front of me.

A mugger? No… wait. A girl? There was a short girl in front of me dressed in a sort of white martial arts uniform holding a pole weapon.

I began backing away from the girl before I heard a pair of footsteps approach from behind me. Turning around, I saw two more girls, except they had cat ears and a tail attached to them. They both gave me a synchronized Cheshire-like grin as they lowered their stances.

Glancing to the other sides of the intersection, I saw one girl blocking each path. Both were dressed in maid outfits.

I certainly did make a lot of enemies in the past, but to have such an assortment of opponents coming at me was definitely new.

"Hmph. I don't get why Riser-sama would send so many of us here just to take you out. You look just like a normal human to me." I glanced up at the sound of a voice and noticed an older woman wearing some kind of half-mask standing on one of the streetlamps.

Riser… As in Riser Phenex? I don't think I did anything to piss him off, did I?

"Whatever. Let's just get this over with,"

Right after the masked woman said that, the girls surrounding me on all four sides charged me all at once. Using a gun would be out of the question as it'll just draw attention. Guess that means the old fashioned way then. I carefully placed the plastic grocery bags on the ground before slapping away the staff headed straight for my face, and elbowing the wielder in her throat. The girl dropped to the ground, clutching her throat and gasping for air. A second later, the two cat girls that were trying to jump onto me were blasted away by a well placed kick to each of their abdomens. The maids, after seeing three of their companions get taken out so easily stopped mid-charge and instead opted to warily circle around me. It took a full minute before they decided to move. The pair rushed towards me at the same time with their arms raised. I waited patiently for them to get closer before I stepped under their strikes and grabbed both of their arms. Using their momentum, I flipped them off of their feet and slammed them into the ground.

"Huh. Guess you're not half bad," the woman in the mask applauded as she jumped off of the street lamp and landed with a soft thud.

I shrugged and rolled my shoulders. "What can I say? The world is a dangerous place."

The woman raised her fists in front of her, as I stood facing her with my arms relaxed and at my sides.

"My name's Isabela, and I'm, unfortunately for you, your killer."

"Killer, eh? I'm pretty sure a greenhorn like you won't stand a chance against me."

"We'll see, won't we?"

My opponent stepped forward and released a barrage of jabs, each one aimed for my head. Every punch sent a small shockwave through the air. Getting hit by one of those won't be fun. Considering how much strength she has, that must make her a Rook. I'm at a severe disadvantage here then…

I continued to backpedal as my opponent continued to throw punch after punch at me. Damn..! If only I had more equipment on me!

Ducking under a hook, I prepared myself to throw my entire weight into Isabela in order to at least try to knock her down until I saw the uppercut aimed straight for my jaw. Before I could properly correct myself, and dodge, the hit connected and I was launched into the air. I would've been sent flying if it wasn't for my opponent grabbing my leg and smashing me back into the ground.

I hacked out a mouthful of blood as I felt my ribs shatter and pierce my lungs under the force of which I was slammed into the ground with.

Shit… I wasn't expecting something like this to happen. Rolling over onto my back, I glanced at the woman who was slowly approaching me. My vision was hazy, but I could clearly see her raising her fist into the air, ready to pound my head in.

No! I won't die here! Not until I've killed that bastard Kokabiel!

Reaching into my shirt, I pulled out Marie and unloaded all six shots into the approaching woman. Unfortunately, she just shrugged each one of them off as if they were nothing more than rubber balls.

Shit, shit, shit! I can barely see. I can barely breathe. I'm drowning in a pool of my own goddamned blood. Is this really how I'm going to die? Before I could achieve my goal?

The last things I saw before I blacked out was a small brown tabby stalking up to me and gently licking my face before turning to face Isabela.

"It seems it's my turn to return the favor."

At that very moment, an unfamiliar voice reached my fading consciousness. Slowly, slowly, the world faded to black.

* * *

 **-Information Sheet-**

 **Code Name:** Ricochet

 **Real Name:** (Unkown)

 **Fake Name:** March Jaeger

 **Affiliation:** Ashen Phoenix

 **Stats:**

 **Combat:** A+

 **R &D:** B++

 **Base Operations:** A

 **Support:** S

 **Medical:** C

 **Skill Set:**

 **Sidearm Mastery:** The skill to be able to wield any kind of handgun with deadly efficiency.

 **Dual wield Proficiency:** The skill to be able to skillfully handle two sidearms at once.

 **Tactical Genius:** The skill to be able to masterfully plan and execute operations.

 **Titles:**

 **Mastermind:** Granted to those with the uncanny ability to lead. Ricochet has an unparalleled tactical mind, and has can successfully plan out strategies through years of experience.

 **Ricochet:** The ability to rebound bullets off of objects and hit a target.

* * *

 **Code Name:** Ai

 **Real Name:** (N/A)

 **Fake Name:** Ai Shinozaki

 **Affiliation:** Ashen Phoenix

 **Stats:**

 **Combat:** E

 **R &D:** A+

 **Base Operations:** S++

 **Support:** S++

 **Medical:** E

 **Skill Set:**

 **Hacking Mastery:** The skill to be able to successfully hack through any kind of security network undetected.

 **Information Mastery:** The skill to be able to gather and handle information from and about almost all the secret organisations in the world.

 **Titles:**

 **A.I.:** Ai is... well... and A.I.

* * *

 **Code Name:** Recon

 **Real Name:** (Unknown)

 **Fake Name:** Rebecca Holmes

 **Affiliation:** Ashen Phoenix

 **Stats:**

 **Combat:** S++

 **R &D:** D

 **Base Operations:** C+

 **Support:** A+

 **Medical:** C

 **Skill Set:**

 **Firearms Mastery:** The skill to be able to skillfully handle any type of ranged weapon with deadly precision.

 **Martial Prowess:** The skill of being proficient in any school of martial art.

 **Stealth Proficiency:** The skill to be able to successfully infiltrate enemy lines most of the time.

 **Titles:**

 **Deadshot:** A title granted to those who can achieve a near 100% accuracy with any kind of projectile weapon available. Although Recon is mostly a sniper, she's proficient in all kinds of ranged weapons.

 **Recon:** The ability to successfully scope out enemy forces with a high accuracy rating. This includes numbers, weapons, encampment, etc.

* * *

 **Code Name:** Bashnya (Tower)

 **Real Name:** (Unknown)

 **Fake Name:** Aleksei Glaskov

 **Affiliation:** Ashen Phoenix

 **Stats:**

 **Combat:** S

 **R &D:** B++

 **Base Operations:** A+

 **Support:** A++

 **Medical:** B+

 **Skill Set:**

 **Firearm Proficiency:** The skill to be able to skillfully handle any type of ranged weapon.

 **Martial Prowess:** The skill of being proficient in any school of martial art.

 **Explosives Expert:** The skill to be able to handle and defuse explosives with both speed and accuracy.

 **Hacking Proficiency:** The skill to be able to hack through most systems.

 **Titles:**

 **Jack of All Trades:** A title granted to those who are proficient in many different fields of expertise. Bashnya is skilled in fields ranging from combat, demolition, and tracking, to fields like hacking, first aid, and espionage.

 **Tower:** Bashnya's huge stature and muscular build allows for him to carry and wear heavy equipment. When in the field, he usually wears a full-body ballistics suit with heavy metal plating and he carries a custom-made shield to protect his comrades.

* * *

 **Codename:** Doktor

 **Real Name:** Erik Fuchs

 **Fake Name:** Karl Faust

 **Affiliation:** Ashen Phoenix

 **Stats:**

 **Combat:** D++

 **R &D:** A++

 **Base Operations:** A+

 **Support:** B+

 **Medical:** S++

 **Skill Set:**

 **Expert Surgeon:** The skill that involves unparalleled medical skills.

 **Emergency First Aid Mastery:** The skill to be able to administer first aid, even against all odds, at a short notice.

 **Expert Technician:** The skill that involves expert knowledge in engineering fields.

 **Titles:**

 **Developer:** A title granted to those who have a creative mind for inventions. As of now, Doktor is possibly the world's only bionics engineer/surgeon and he continues to further his research into the field of study.

 **Doktor:** Doktor got this title because, well, he's the team's only medic right now.

* * *

 **Code Name:** (N/A)

 **Real Name:** Kalawarner

 **Fake Name:** Kanako Kawakami

 **Affiliation:** Ashen Phoenix

 **Stats:**

 **Combat:** D+

 **R &D:** E

 **Base Operations:** E

 **Support:** D

 **Medical:** E

 **Skill Set:**

(N/A)

 **Titles:**

(N/A)

* * *

 **Code Name:** (N/A)

 **Real Name:** Mittelt

 **Fake Name:** Miko Nishimori

 **Affiliation:** Ashen Phoenix

 **Stats:**

 **Combat:** D+

 **R &D:** E

 **Base Operations:** E

 **Support:** D

 **Medical:** E

 **Skill Set:**

(N/A)

 **Titles:**

(N/A)


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:** Whoa, another upload within the same day?! Yeah. I've been sitting on this chapter for quite a while now. Since I left a huge gap between uploads during the winter break, I might as well try to upload as much as I can before I start to get swamped by too much work. Still don't quite know where I'm going with this story, though. Everything's just experimental right now.

* * *

 _*Beep*_

"…..! Hurry! … losing him!"

Voices? Where..?

 _*Beep*_

"…. Asia here yet?!"

Who's there? What is that beeping..?

 _*Beep*_

"…. trying!"

Dark. It's dark. Cold. Frozen. Can't move.

"Dammit! … die on me!"

 _*Beep*_

Am I dying..?

"…. no use! …. lost….. much blood! ….. transfusion!"

Not yet… I don't want to die. Not yet. Not when…

"Creator! Please…..!"

When…

"Defibrillator! Hand ….. defibrillator!"

"Creator!"

I haven't…

"…..!"

Killed…

 _*Beeeeeeeep*_

* * *

"AGH!"

I jolted up from my laying position, panting and gasping for air. My entire body was covered in cold sweat and my heart was pounding like it was going to burst. Taking a moment to catch my breath, I glance at my surroundings to find that I was in my room.

That… was that all a dream? No. It felt much too real to be a dream. I knew all too well the feeling of being close to death. I guess Doktor saved me, then. That man really is a miracle worker.

But, wait.

Why didn't Isabela finish me? She had her chance. I was lying helplessly on the ground. Was it that voice? Return the favor. They said something about returning the favor.

If that person saved me, then how did they know to take me to our base? So many questions, and not enough answers. Whatever, it's no use thinking about things I don't have enough information about. As I was about to lay back down and go back to sleep, I felt something shift under the covers.

No, scratch that. Make that two things.

I glanced down and noticed that there were indeed two extra lumps lying under the blanket.

Er… What? One was small, almost like an animal, but the other was definitely human sized, albeit, a very small one.

Did I...?

No, no, no, no! That can't be, right? I mean… I remember clearly that I got attacked last night.

But…

What if it was just some insane drug trip and I just…

Oh god.

Alright. No. Calm down. Nothing's been proven yet. There's still a chance that I didn't just lose my virginity to some animal and an unknown person, right?

Taking a deep breath, I gently lifted the covers, and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that I still had my pants on.

What threw me off however was the presence of a gently slumbering cat, and a young girl who looked like she was around ten years old.

I instantly paled.

Ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgod!

What the hell is this?! Why is there a little girl and a cat sleeping in the same bed as me?! If somebody sees this then they'll-

Just as that thought crossed my mind, the door opened and Recon walked in.

"Hey, March. You awa-…"

The blonde woman stopped in her tracks as she took in my situation. Her eyes drifted from me, then to the two figures sleeping and clinging onto my body, before they settled on me again.

"Well, well," a teasing smirk glazed over her face as she slowly backed out of the open door. "It looks like I'm interrupting something. Don't mind me. Enjoy yourself~."

Once she had exited the room, the door slowly clicked shut, and I heard rapid footsteps running off into the direction of the other bedrooms.

Great. My life is over. I'll be branded as a pedophile, and lose all the respect I had gained over the years.

I sighed and flopped back down onto my pillow. Slowing down my breathing, I calmed myself down. I may have been slightly delirious back there. Assess the situation. Carefully scan all the available evidence.

Alright. So, my memories of last night are of being attacked by whom I assume to be some of Riser Phenex's peerage members. I was saved by an unknown person, and brought back to base where I was patched up.

But now, there is a brown tabby, and an elementary school girl sleeping in the same bed as me. What led up to this development? I'm still missing a huge chunk of information.

As I was going over possible scenarios in my head, the two unknown bed invaders stirred. The pink-haired little girl woke up first. She blearily rubbed her eyes and yawned before her gaze landed on me.

A second passed.

Her eyes widened as tears pricked the corners of her eyes.

Um… Don't tell me I really did..?

"Creator!" The little girl shouted before tackling me rubbing her head against my bare chest. "Creator! You're alive! Ai was so worried!"

Huh? Wait, what? That voice unmistakably belonged to somebody I knew very well.

"Ai? Is that you?"

The girl let go of me, and wiped her eyes with her arm before smiling brightly, and saluting. "Yep! Doktor finished my body last night, and it was supposed to be a surprise for when you got home, but…"

Ai's posture visibly sagged as she possibly thought back to what happened to me last night. But… this was amazing. Her body looked so incredibly real. It didn't look like she had any synthetic parts at all.

I forcibly shook my head to prevent myself from staring at her body for any longer. No need to seem even more like a criminal. Noticing that she was still sniffling and trying her best not to cry, I gently reached over and stroked the top of her head.

"It's alright, Ai. I'm fine now. See?" I gestured towards my surprisingly unmarked body. They must've gotten Asia to come here to help heal me, huh?

All of a sudden, the door to my bedroom blew open as a set of footsteps thundered into the room.

"Boss!"

"Führer!"

Bashnya was the first one that burst into my room, closely followed by Recon and Doktor. After them, it was the Fallen Angels we recently "recruited".

"Thank goodness you are awake, Führer. We thought that you might have not made it," Doktor said as he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well," I did a once over of my body. There really was no trace of any wounds. "It looks like I have you and Asia to thank for that."

"Indeed," the balding man nodded and adjusted his glasses. "If the girl did not arrive when she did, you would be swimming with the fishes right about now. Figuratively speaking."

"I will prepare lunch for you," Bashnya rumbled with a hint of excitement in his voice before he walked out of the room.

"Yes, well. I shall leave you to rest a while longer, as well. I am glad you are okay," Doktor said as he followed Bashnya out.

Now it was just Recon and the other two girls. They had a slight change in wardrobe it seems. Kalawarner was now wearing a black bodysuit under a sort of long, white trench coat with a tall collar, and an open stomach area, whereas Mittelt was wearing a tight, black plugsuit with red effects that also exposed her back.

"Come on you two," Recon urged as she pushed the pair of Fallen Angels forward. "Greet your new boss properly."

""R-Right!"" They both simultaneously answered.

Jeez… Recon's got them wrapped around her pinky doesn't she?

Kalawarner coughed into her hand before awkwardly saluting. "Um… My name is Kalawarner, but I will now be referred to as Kawakami Kanako. I look forward to working with you."

Mittelt was next as she fearfully glanced at the tall blonde woman standing beside her. "I'm Mittelt, but my name from now on is apparently Nishimori Miko. Hope we get along."

"Well," Recon sighed. "I guess that'll do. Alright, let's go you two. Let the boss man have his rest."

The trio of girls left the room and closed the door behind them, leaving only Ai, the cat, and me in the room.

Speaking of, that's the same cat that I've been feeding for the past month or so. Yes, that's definitely the one. It has the same coloration and stripes.

"Looks like this place is pretty nice, and the people aren't bad either, nya~."

That voice… it was from last night. But where was it coming from? I scanned the room for any signs of the owner but to no avail.

"Heeeey~. I'm down here, nya."

Down? I looked down and saw that the tabby had crawled up onto my stomach.

"Er… Ai. Is that cat talking to me, or am I just going crazy?" I asked, dreading any kind of answer I was going to hear.

"Ahahaha…" Ai sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "About that… I think… I'll just leave now…"

Before I could say anything else, Ai had jumped to her feet and dashed out of the room at mach speed. Meanwhile, the cat was giggling with a paw to its – no – her mouth. The voice is definitely female.

There was a puff of smoke that forced me to close my eyes as I felt a heavy weight drop on top of me and push me down onto my back. When I opened my eyes again, I was greeted by the sight of a beautiful woman with long, wild chestnut brown hair with a set of matching cat ears, and emerald green eyes staring down at me. As my eyes unconsciously travelled down her body, I noticed that she was completely naked.

"Like what you see~?"

"Hah!"

I gasped as the mysterious woman had caught me staring at her body. It's not my fault! The curves she has are insane! They can't be real!

No, wait, calm down. Don't get flustered. You're better than this. I took a deep breath and focused on making eye contact with the woman.

Er, wait. Why am I getting caught up on the fact that there's a naked girl in front of me when it was a cat that turned into said girl? These damn teenage hormones are really annoying.

Clearing my throat, I tried to keep my voice from wavering, and asked, "Who are you?"

"My, my, you don't recognize me? It's me, the stray cat you've been feeding for the past months," the woman replied with a sultry smile. "Ah… what did you call me again… Nyanko?"

Guh… My face flared up when she said the nickname I used to call for her. If she knew that, then that means she really must be the same stray cat. But that also means…

"You're a Nekomata?"

"Nekoshou, actually."

Nekoshou?! Nekomata were already hard enough to come across with what happened, but a Nekoshou? I had honestly thought that Kuroka and her little sister were the last ones alive.

"So you're-"

She cut me off by placing a slender finger over my mouth.

"Yes," her tone of voice became serious. "As far as I know, I am one of the last ones alive."

"Then… what's your actual name?" I asked, trying to shift the topic.

The pair of brown cat ears sitting on top of the Nekoshou's head twitched playfully. "Nope. I know how you guys work. You all use code names and fake names, right?"

I nodded. "Right, but you have to earn a code name if you want to use one."

"Hm… Well, how about you call me Miharu. Kokonoe Miharu."

"Miharu, then. It's nice to meet you."

"My," the Nekoshou giggled into her hand "How polite. If you keep this up, I might just give you a niiice, big reward~."

I nervously cleared my throat. This woman was going to be hard to deal with. "Alright, ok. Anyways, do you mind getting off? I need to get to school."

"It's already past noon, but very well," Miharu climbed off of me and stood off to the side while I slipped out of bed and began putting on the Kuoh uniform. But…

"Do mind not staring at me as I change?" I asked, annoyed at the Nekoshou for her blatant gaze.

"Hmm~? I'm sorry, but when you're putting on such a nice show for me, I really can't help it."

"What show? There's nothing to even look at."

A shiver ran down my back as I heard Miharu slurp. "Well, your well toned but slender body is nice, but that adorable little butt of yours is your real charm point. I wonder if you're a virgin."

A… virgin? Dear god she's that kind of person? My hands unconsciously travelled downwards to cover my rear. I really need to watch my back around her from now on.

For the rest of the time I was fixing myself up, I could feel Miharu's eyes following me, and tracing my movements like a hungry predator. It was honestly really unnerving. In fact, I honestly expected for her to jump me at any moment. Once I was finished, I grabbed Marie and slipped her into a holster under my shirt.

"Miharu," I called out to the Nekoshou. "I'll have Recon get you some clothes later, so just wait here in my room for now, alright?"

"That's fine. I'll just be looking through your underwear drawer in the meantime."

This woman… I already get enough teasing from Ricochet, but now I also have to deal with this woman's constant sexual harassment?

I sighed, already sick of her antics. "Whatever. Do what you want."

Slipping on my eyepatch, I walked out the door to the smell of a delicious steak wafting from the dining room.

* * *

By the time I got to the school, classes were already over so I just headed straight to the old school building. I'm going to have fun explaining why I was absent the second day after I transferred in.

As I reached my hand out towards the doorknob to the club room, I felt an explosion of heat and energy come from inside. An attack?

Quickly drawing Marie, I kicked in the door and leveled her at the source of all the magic. In the middle of the room was a man with styled blonde hair, wreathed in flames.

That's…

"Riser Phenex?"

I lowered my gun. What was he doing here?

When Riser saw me, his eyes instantly widened as he pointed a finger at me. "You! You're still alive?!"

So he really was the one that sent that kill squad after me. But what was he doing here?

My eyes drifted to the side to the maid with silver hair. Grayfia's here as well.

She met my gaze for a brief moment before nodding and turning back towards the Phenex.

"Please, Riser-sama, calm down. If you do not, then I will be forced to take action," the maid said with cold steel in her voice. The burning hot room suddenly dropped to temperatures below zero as Grayfia stared Riser down.

"Urk… Alright," the flames surrounding Riser died down and disappeared before the temperature slowly returned to normal. "Even I would be terrified if I were to confront one of the Lucifer's pieces."

Slipping Marie away, I leant against the nearby wall. Hopefully, I'd get some kind of explanation here as to what was going on. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Issei, and Asia walking up to me.

"March, you're okay," the blonde nun whispered in relief. "I thought that I might not have made it in time."

I shook my head and smiled gently. "Well, if it weren't for you, I would certainly be dead, now. So thank you."

During the time I was working under Raynare, the girl had taken to me a small bit. All the others just treated her like a tool, something to be used. I ended up feeling sorry for her, so I was kind to her whenever we where alone. Occasionally, I would give her small gifts, usually sweets and snacks.

"So, mind telling us what got you so banged up? That Doktor guy nearly scared Asia and me half to death last night with that call." Issei asked.

Taking a quick glance to the side, I noticed that Buchou, Grayfia, and Riser were sorting some kind of deal out. This might take a while.

I turned back to Issei, and answered, "Riser over there sent some of his lackeys to kill me. Most likely because I attacked his familiar."

"Huh? Why would you do that?"

"I thought it might've been an enemy. What would you have thought if you knew there was something outside the window watching you for the entire day?"

As I was talking with Issei, I caught bits and pieces of the conversation the others were having. Engagement, huh? Is that why he had Buchou under surveillance? The guy does seem pretty possessive from what I've read about him.

"What?!" Issei shouted before I forcefully clamped my hand over his mouth. The room grew silent and everyone stared at Issei for the sudden outburst. I said a quick apology to the others as I glared daggers at the idiot.

He grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head before repeating, "What?"

"Exactly what I said," I sighed and played with the fringes of my bangs. "He's been having his familiar watch Buchou. I'm not sure for how long, but probably must've been since the engagement was announced."

Anger flashed through Issei's eyes as he clenched his fists. "What the hell? That guy is just pissing me off more and more…"

It honestly was a little creepy. I would understand if she was in constant danger and he had to keep an eye on her so she's safe, but just so he can know what she's doing is taking it too far.

The faint glowing of a summoning circle caught the corner of my eye, and tore my attention away from the two Devils I was conversing with. Phenex. Riser's summoning his peerage. My jaw began aching as I thought back to the fight I had yesterday. If I had been a second too late dodging the attack, my head would've been taken clean off by that uppercut.

From the center of the circle, fifteen girls of all shapes, sizes, and costumes appeared. Of course, I instantly recognized the six who attacked me last night. When Isabela saw me, I saw her frown slightly before her face returned to an impassive look. She must be disappointed that I had survived. I hadn't taken the time to read through the dossiers of all of his peerage members, but I did notice the infamous Bomb Queen.

"Sniff… uuu…"

What is that awful sound? I turned my head to the side, and saw that Issei had begun crying while leering at the girls. What? What's wrong with him?

"Hey, Rias. Your servant over there is sobbing and looking at me strangely," Riser said with a modicum amount of disgust in his voice.

The red-haired girl just sighed and shook her head. "Yes. His dream is to one day have a harem, so he must've been extremely envious after seeing your servants."

My eye twitched. Is this guy for real? Harems are things of fiction. The only way someone would even be able to get one is if they had some kind of legendary artifact that attracted women to them. Then again, I did hear that Devil society openly accepted polygamy as a way to try to bolster their numbers. But… for someone like Issei?

Well, this is certainly pointless. With nothing else to do for now, I tuned out everything around me and instead began polishing Marie. If this is all I have to do to get my paycheck, then it certainly is a damn good job. Hopefully, it won't get any harder than this.

Another sudden bright light caught my attention once again, but this time, it originated from harem boy. On his arm was a red gauntlet of sorts with a green central piece. I… feel like I've seen that before. It was a Sacred Gear, but… damn! What was it?

"Screw you, you yakitori! I'll beat you down with my Boosted Gear, right now!" Issei yelled as a voice called out "boost" at the same time from the gauntlet.

The Boosted Gear? Oh gods… how did I forget about such an important Sacred Gear? No, more importantly, how the hell did this idiot get born with it? Great… a dumbass whose life goal is a harem is in possession of a Longinus that can destroy the world. There can only be two outcomes to this scenario. He either gets his ass kicked and killed in a month, or he somehow manages to use it to its full potential and takes over the world.

Sighing, I leveled Marie ahead of me and fired a single shot. A girl cried out in pain followed by a subsequent crash as she fell to the ground. When I looked at who I had shot, I saw that it was the pole girl. She was clutching at her ankle which had a small red hole going through it.

"Mira!" The Phenex shouted as he moved to the fallen girl's side, before directing a glare at me. "You… First it was my familiar, and now Mira. How dare you hurt my servants like that?!"

"Well," I casually said as I spun Marie around my finger. "You just attacked one of my employer's underlings. So me, being the good employee I am, retaliated and protected."

"Employer? No, it doesn't matter! I'll teach you what happens to those who anger a phoenix!" Riser threatened as he extended his arm and a stream of flames shot out from his hand.

I stood unmoving as the fire snaked towards me. There was no need for me to do anything. In fact, if he did incinerate me here and now, he and his entire family would be in for a world of pain.

Just before the tips of the flame reached me, a wall of ice appeared in front of it and stopped it. The fire instantly disappeared the moment it made contact with the wall, and even though it was made of ice, the wall looked just as pristine as it did the moment it was created.

"Riser-sama," Grayfia calmly stated as she waved away the wall of ice. "If you attack this boy, then I will also have to consider it as a direct act of aggression to the Gremory household."

Riser whipped around and faced the menacing Queen. "What?! What do you mean by that?!"

Grayfia ignored Riser's anger, and instead turned and directed a question at me. "Do you still go by the same name since we last met?"

I nodded.

"Very well," Grayfia gestured towards me with a hand. "This boy, March Jaeger, is a respected associate with my master. We are all close friends, and it would be appreciated if you do not attack him."

"Tch!" Riser clicked his tongue. He was obviously irritated, but he relented. Not before sending a hateful look at me.

"Yubelluna, we're leaving," he ordered.

"Yes, Riser-sama," the Bomb Queen nodded and started preparing for teleportation.

"Ten days!" Riser announced to Buchou. "You have ten days before the Rating Game to strengthen your pieces."

With that, he and the rest of his peerage disappeared into the magic circle. Once they were completely gone, I walked up to Grayfia and bowed my head.

"Thank you for protecting me," I said.

The maid shook her head before giving me a small smile. "I was only repaying a favor I owed you. There is no need to thank me."

"You're still going on about that? I already told you there was no need to repay anything. Although, Sirzechs has still been bothering me about almost every week by sending me gifts. Do you think you can do anything about that?"

"I'm afraid not. My master has the entire peerage working on brainstorming gifts for you, and it doesn't seem like he will stop," Grayfia explained in an amused voice.

So that's why the gifts have been getting stranger and stranger. Just last week, I was sent a box of… well… questionable books in terms of age restriction. By that, I mean the 18+ kind. I have no idea whose bright idea it was to send something like that over, but nonetheless, it's lying buried under a pile of dust.

"Well," I sighed while rubbing my forehead. "Please, do try something to stop him, but if he does still want to send gifts, then please send something at least a little useful."

Grayfia nodded. "I will keep that in mind. Then, if there is nothing else, I should be taking my leave. March, Ojou-sama, I will be going."

"Right, Grayfia. Thanks for your help today," Buchou said before she turned to me. "March, I need to talk to you and Akeno about something. The rest of you can go home. Club activities will be over for today."

I gave a questioning look at the Priestess which she returned with an enigmatic smile. Seems like someone's been doing a bit of research on me.

Nonetheless, I wanted to see what Rias wanted with me. "Roger that."

"Right, Buchou."

I bid farewell to Grayfia and followed Buchou and Akeno outside.

"So, as you may have heard, March. We will be having a Rating Game against Riser in ten days," Buchou began explaining.

"And so, you want my help in training your servants," I guessed.

"That's right." The red-haired heiress bit her bottom lip and frowned. "We have to win the upcoming Rating Game no matter what. Do you think you can do it?"

Hm… That means I'm going to gather some information on how Riser's peerage works. Then, I'll have to come up with a proper training regimen that can get them up to the same level as his.

"Alright," I said with a firm nod. "I can help you, but I can't guarantee results. That depends on you and the others."

Buchou breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, March. You can go now. I still have some things to discuss with Akeno."

"Got it, I'll start preparations. Contact me when you're ready to start training."

As I made to leave, my employer suddenly stopped me by grabbing my shoulder.

"W-wait!" She called out. "Um… How exactly do you know Grayfia and my brother?"

Ah… of course she would be curious about that. I grinned. "Let's just say that I may or may not have saved your older brother's wife from death in the past."

Without saying anything else, I left the rest to her imagination. It certainly was true that I had essentially saved her, but I'm sure that she could've easily handled the situation herself.

And so, I headed on my way back home to whatever chaos might be waiting for me there.

* * *

"Creator! Welcome back!"

As soon as I opened the front door to the mansion, I tiny blur of pink smashed into my chest, knocking me to the ground with a startled cry.

"Ehehe~! You're so warm…" Ai breathed as she snuggled against me.

Ugh… Jeez. What did Doktor make her body out of? It feels like I just got hit by a tiny car…

"A-Ai," I wheezed. "Please, get off of me…"

"Ah! Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!"

The small girl quickly scrambled to her feet, looking slightly sheepish.

"It's alright, Ai. You're still getting used to having a physical body, right?" I told the A.I. as I dusted myself off and got back up.

But… Doktor really did an amazing job with her body. She looked exactly like how a human should. And the fact that she could feel things is also an amazing feet. I guess he applied the same technology he uses for my prosthetic to Ai's body. Sometimes, even I forget that I have a fake leg. Unfortunately, he hasn't found a way to create a fully functional eye yet.

"My, my, aren't you two close."

I turned around to see Miharu standing behind me, dressed in a red traditional kimono with flower embroideries. Again, she reminded me a lot of Kuroka.

"Geh!"

Ai made a strange sound and hugged my arm while glaring daggers at the Nekoshou. Did she do something to Ai to make her so scared?

The older woman laughed into her hand.

"There's no need to be so hostile. We can share him," Miharu teased with a devilish smile. "For example, I can take his back, while you take care of his front, no?"

There it is again… Every time she does that my body runs cold. I involuntarily shivered. Meanwhile, it looked like Ai was off in her own imaginary world.

"Ah… Creator… Nooo~… Not there~…" I heard her mumble.

Right. Somebody, please help me get out of here.

"Ahem."

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Bashnya clearing his throat to get my attention.

"Boss, we have a new job," he said once he knew I was paying attention to him.

"Oh, Bashnya. Alright, I'll come check out the details in a second," I answered. Wait…

As I was prying Ai off of my arm, I asked, "How long have you been standing there?"

"Hn?" Miharu tilted her head in question. "You didn't notice? He's been there the whole time. Right?"

Bashnya nodded.

Great. It happened again. For someone as big as Bashnya, he certainly had a very small presence. Even if he was standing right behind me, I wouldn't have noticed him unless he himself announces his presence.

Anyways, I coughed into my hand began following Bashnya who left for the control room.

"Come on you two, let's go," I called out to the two girls behind me.

To be honest, I was still slightly wary of having Miharu join us just like that. Then again, I didn't ask any questions when Doktor and Bashnya decided to join, either. I'll just have to have someone keep a close eye on her for now.

When we got to mission control, all the other members were already waiting there, including Kanako and Miko.

"Hey, boss, glad you could finally join us," Recon commented, sucking on a lollipop. "As you might have heard, someone wants us to do a hit."

"Wetwork?" I confirmed.

Recon nodded. "That's right. Taking care of some pests in a warehouse."

Well, that should be easy enough.

Walking up to one of the monitors displaying the offer, I began to read the details. Apparently it came in from one of the major Yakuza gangs, White Snake. The job was to eliminate a rival gang's drug operation that was based in a series of warehouses near this area.

"Ai, do you already have the schematics?" I asked while turning around towards the planning table.

"Yep," Ai replied as she turned on a 3-D holographic projection in the center of the table. "Got it all here."

The projection displayed a set of three warehouses, each identical to each other. If that's the case, we can use the same strategy to clean all three.

"So what's the plan, boss?" Recon asked.

After scanning the displays for a bit longer, I spoke up while pointing out the points I was describing. "Alright, there are two side doors on each side so Bashnya and I can breach through there. In case things don't go as planned, we'll have Kanako and Miko stationed at one end with Miharu and Ai at the other. Recon will be providing overwatch and picking off anyone that might slip past the other four."

I turned to Bashnya. "Once inside, the two of us will conduct a clean sweep of the entire place. Start with the outside and any corridors before making your way to the center. The Yakuza will take care of the clean up, but we'll still be using suppressed weapons. Other than that, go wild."

The giant man nodded and started making his way to the armory next door. I then turned to the others. "If you weren't listening, I'll say this again. Kanako, Miko, you two will cover the east entrance. You are only to kill anyone that tries to escape. Ai, Miharu, you two will cover the west entrance. If any of the shutter doors open, we'll keep you notified. Your performance on this mission will dictate if you're worth the expenses to keep you here."

The pair of Fallen Angels gulped nervously before scurrying after Bashnya. Meanwhile, Miharu lazily followed the others as Ai uneasily trailed behind.

"Recon," I called. "You know the drill."

The blonde woman sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Yeah… I always get stuck with the boring jobs, huh?"

"You'll get your chance. In fact, I'm sure you'll be very happy with another job that's coming very soon."

She instantly perked up at that. "Oh? You've got my interest now. Mind telling me what it is?"

"Nope." I waved her off with a smirk as I started on my way to the armory to join the others. "Just wait and see."

* * *

The moon hung high in the sky as I checked over my remaining ammo count one more time. So far, we had cleared two of the warehouses with no problems, and we were now on the last one. It was honestly a little disappointing. The guards were all bit rate goons who didn't know which end of a pistol was the barrel and which end was the grip.

Tapping the earpiece I had, I contacted the others in my team. "This is Ricochet. I'm in position."

" _Bashnya. Me too."_

" _Recon here. Got eyes on."_

" _K and M. We're ready."_

" _A and M. We're good to go."_

"Alright." After confirming the responses, I braced myself against the door. "Breaching in three."

I took a deep breath. "Two."

"One."

Kicking open the door, I quickly stepped inside and scanned the room. Nobody here. Keep moving. Next room, rinse and repeat. A single guard, slit his throat. Two more in the hallway, two bullets through their heads. Confirm the kills. One of them looked like he was barely in his twenties. Doesn't matter, keep moving. Slowly and methodically, I made my way through each room, and corridor. I was on constant alert.

Eventually, I reached the center storage area. Once again, it was filled with metal storage containers. Seems like most of the guards were saturated around this area. Let's see… ten… twenty. Twenty hostiles according to the readout. One of Ai's new abilities is to scan for any life forms inside a certain area, but since it's still a prototype, we can't exactly rely on it too heavily. Looking over the stack of boxes I was hiding behind, I scanned the room. From where I was, I could only see five people, and they were all sitting around a table smoking and playing cards.

"Bashnya, where are you?" I contacted the giant.

The man's voice crackled over the comms. _"In storage area. I see five guards surrounding a civilian."_

A civilian? Why would there be a civ here?

"What are they doing?"

" _They appear to be raping her."_

What? Wait… I checked the HUD on my mask once again. There are the five around the table so… the one off to the side must be me. Then… the single dot almost all the way across should be Bashnya and then the six dots are the ones he sees. That's a total of eleven not including us. Don't tell me… the nine left are all… They're all in close proximity and it looks like they might be inside one of the containers. Looks like we're going to have an extra objective here.

"Alright, Bashnya. Secure the girl."

" _Da."_

I glanced over my cover once again. The five men were still preoccupied. Easy. Stepping out from the shadows, I sprinted up to the group of guards while simultaneously firing four shots. Instantly, my targets dropped dead with gaping holes in their heads while the last remaining survivor hadn't registered that anything had happened. I vaulted over the table, spilling the poker chips, cards, ash trays, and beer bottles all over the place before tackling the man to the ground and clamping a gloved hand over his mouth. Finally, it seemed that he noticed what just happened and was now thrashing around to try to escape. Once I pressed my pistol against his temple, though, he froze like a deer stuck in headlights.

"You're going to answer some of my questions, and I might just let you live," I threatened as I pressed the barrel harder into his head.

The man slowly nodded. It looked like he was about ready to piss his pants. I removed my hand.

"What do you have in those containers over there?" I asked, pointing at the containers where the cluster of dots is.

"G-g-g-girls! Girls we kidnapped from people who didn't pay their d-d-d-debts!" The man stuttered.

I thought so. Even for the Yakuza, this kind of strategy was deplorable. It's even more disgusting how they actually harmed the girls. This didn't feel right. Normally, a small time gang like this wouldn't be able to afford an operation this big. All the other containers in the other warehouses were filled with narcotics. More than they can probably afford, and they definitely aren't producing it themselves.

"Who's supplying you?"

"I-I don't know! They just told me to guard the place!"

Shit. Figures a goon wouldn't know anything about that. Whatever. A pull of the trigger and a splatter of blood and brains later, I was on my feet dusting myself off. Maybe sliding over that table with ashtrays wasn't such a good idea.

"Boss."

I glanced over at the sound of the voice and saw Bashnya lumbering towards me, covered head to toe in a massive suit of armor. In his arms was an unconscious girl whose modesty was barely covered by bandages. There were also bandages covering other parts of her body. Bashnya must've done that.

Signaling to him to keep watch, I made my way to the red, metal storage container and placed my hands on the door handles. I grunted as I pulled the doors open, and what greeted me was the sight of a group of naked girls and women, all huddled together inside the darkness. Their ages ranged from teenagers to housewives. All of them had the same look of fear in their eyes when they saw me.

This was a sight I was all too familiar with, but it certainly didn't make it any easier for me to swallow. There was nothing I wanted more right now than to torture and maim the fucker that ordered this, and allowed for this to happen.

Calming my rage for now, I extended my hand towards the group of females and said in the gentlest voice I could, "It's alright. I'm here to help you."

They all looked warily at me, but one of the girls, a teen with firey-red hair reaching to her shoulders, stepped forward. She didn't flinch or shy away when I grabbed her hand. In fact, it looked like she was ready to fight at a moment's notice. From the way she moved, I could see that she was a proficient martial artist, and her toned muscles indicated a dedicated amount of training.

"Who are you?" The girl asked.

"Ricochet. Call me Ricochet," I answered.

"That's not much of a name."

"Well, I don't have a real name."

After I had helped her out, and set her down outside the crate near the girl Bashnya found, I proceeded to individually help the other ones out. They were hesitant at first, but after the first few, they willing followed me. Some of them were crying, some of them were laughing, but some of them also seemed like they had their souls sucked out of them. I checked my remaining ammo count. Two bullets still in, and ten in the last clip. Orders were to cleanse all the warehouses, civilian or not. Twelve shots, ten witnesses left. I ejected the current magazine and tucked it into my tactical vest before sliding in the other one. Taking off the suppressor, I began pacing back and forth in front of the women. I had to make a choice. Kill them and do my job, or save them. If I do take them in, that means I'll have to house them at our base. As a mercenary, the right thing to do would be to kill them, but… Damn! I'm still a human! These people have suffered enough.

What can I even do, though? It's not like I can take them back to their families. The gang would find out and just target them again. Unless I can put an end to the entire gang, these women and their families won't be safe together.

Shit…

After what seemed like hours of internal debating, I finally came to a conclusion.

"Bashnya, you take point!" I called out before turning to the women. "All of you who can stand help those that can't and follow the big guy over there."

As the women all stood up and held onto each other, I tapped my earpiece.

"Ai, we're coming out. What do your scans show?"

" _Are you sure, creator? There are still ten life signs in there that aren't you and Bashnya,"_ she replied.

"That's fine. They're civilians."

" _Alright, got it. I'll relay the message to the others."_

I signaled to Bashnya to show that I was ready to go. Bringing up the rear, I carefully scanned our surroundings while following the trail out of the storage area. Just as I was about the exit the room, a moving shadow in my peripheral caught my attention.

What… was that? It looked larger than a normal human, and it looked like it had some kind of tail.

Signaling to Bashnya to keep going, I made my way back into the room. I watched carefully for any signs of movement in the poorly lit area. A hissing sound came from the top of the rafters, but when I looked over in the direction, there was nothing there. It sounded like a snake.

Left! No, gone.

Above.

Behind.

Whenever I would turn to face the direction of the movement, it would already be gone. Whoever or whatever this thing was really enjoyed toying with me.

"Hahahaha! What'ssssss the matter little man? Ssssscared?" A gravelly female voice seemingly reverberated throughout the whole building.

An annoying enemy I can't find, or catch. By the sounds and looks of it, she doesn't seem to be human either.

"It lookssss like you were having ssssome fun with my underlingssss," the voice hissed. "Maybe I should pay you back!"

I rolled to the side just as a massive figure launched itself past me and crashed into a metal container. In the darkness, I could barely make out a hunched over female figure with a long snake like lower half. This is… a Lamia? That must've been why Ai's sensors didn't pick up anything..

My earpiece crackled as Ai's voice entered my ear. _"Creator? What's wrong? What are you still doing in there?"_

"It's nothing Ai, just checking some things out," I replied.

" _Well you better get out of there fast. Some Tengu just got here and are entering the warehouse. We had to relocate. Will you be okay meeting us back at base?"_

"Yeah. Alright. I'll catch up to you later."

Tengu, huh? Why would they come here? No, never mind that. I should get out of here while the lamia is still stunned. Just as I began to make my way outside, the ceiling of the warehouse came crashing down and several figures with black wings flew in. The moonlight streamed in through the newly added skylight, revealing the Lamia and me for the Tengu to see.

One of the masked Youkai seemed to recognize me since the moment our gazes met, he gasped in surprise.

"March-sama?! Is that you?"

I recognize that voice.

"Kokuu?"

The Tengu that called out to me flew down to me while the five others dive bombed towards the Lamia and speared her all simultaneously. She thrashed and let out a guttural scream before becoming limp seconds later as blood pooled around her. Well, so much for that boss fight.

I turned my attention to the Tengu who had landed in front of me.

"That clothing and that helmet. Yes, you must be March-sama, right?" He asked again.

"That's right," I replied with a nod. "I certainly didn't expect to see you way over here, Kokuu."

"Ah… yes. We received reports that a rogue Lamia had began operating with the Yakuza, so we were sent to deal with her. We found her in Kyoto, but she got away from us so we tracked her to here." Kokuu answered.

A Lamia organizing a bunch of bit-rate thugs? That seemed a bit out of character. Lamia weren't known for their intelligence in the first place. They can seduce men with their power, but it's usually only for some kind of personal gain. An operation like this has to have some kind of mastermind behind it. But, I'll keep that information to myself for now. No need to give the poor guy even more work.

"Hm… Once again, you guys have surprised me with your surprisingly good information network."

"Of course. We Youkai have literal eyes all over Japan. As long as no one can sense us, we can keep our spies posted everywhere. I assume that you are here on a job?"

"Just finished up." I gestured to the dead thugs. "A gang wanted these guys out of the picture for trying to rise up in the drug market."

The Tengu stroked his chin. "I see. This seems like fate that we met like this, again."

"Fate, huh…"

"Oh!" Kokuu bowed his head. "I apologize, March-sama. I did not mean to offend you. You do not like things such as destiny, correct?"

I shook my head. "It's alright, Kokuu. You don't need to worry about that. We're friends after all."

"Hahaha! Indeed. Speaking of, Kunou-sama misses you, and has not stopped wishing to see you again, despite what she says. Especially with what has happened not too long ago."

Ah… yes. Kunou was definitely one of the larger reprieves I had in this world. Playing with her and relaxing at the Kyoto Youkai Headquarters during my time there was one of the most enjoyable jobs I ever had. Albeit, every day was filled with trying to suppress a small uprising trying to overthrow Yasaka. But, what Kokuu said last threw me off.

"What happened?" I inquired, worried that something bad had occurred.

Kokuu hesitated before speaking in a hushed voice. "Yasaka-sama has been kidnapped."

"What? Kidnapped?!"

How could someone as powerful as her be kidnapped?

"Yes." The Tengu's tone of voice became grim. "I… I was away on a different assignment that day. Yasaka-sama was supposed to meet with a messenger from Mount Meru. There was only one survivor, a close friend of mine, whom perished moments after we reached him. Maybe if I hadn't gone on that mission, then I could've prevented it."

He certainly was one of the most devoted subjects, so her loss must've taken a huge toll on him.

"You couldn't help it, Kokuu. If whoever attacked her managed to kill all her guards and kidnap her, then you being there would've just got you killed too."

"I... suppose you are right. We have been investigating matters, but so far, we haven't found much. March-sama, do you mind lending us a hand once again?"

The Tengu's eyes looked at me, full of hope. It pained me to admit, but even I probably couldn't save her. Yasaka has immense magical powers that can probably level countless cities. That means whoever kidnapped her had some kind of countermeasure to her power, or rivaled her strength. Even if I found her, we couldn't exactly just rush into such a powerful enemy like that with our current manpower.

"I'm sorry," I apologized. "I'm going to be busy for the next ten days or so with another job, but I'll try to see if I can find out who took Yasaka and where they took her."

Kokuu breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, March-sama. Knowing that you are helping gives me some peace of mind."

"Of course. Yasaka is one of my friends, and Kunou must be swamped with work, trying take her mother's place."

"Indeed. Kunou-sama has been trying her very best dividing her efforts between locating Yasaka-sama and managing the Kyoto Youkai branch."

"Well, tell her that I'll try to come see her as soon as I can. If nothing else comes up, I might be able to visit within two weeks."

"Of course. I am sure that Kunou-sama will be both delighted and relieved to hear that."

"Sorry, Kokuu, but I should be going now. The others are probably getting worried."

"I understand, March-sama," the Tengu nodded. "We shall take our leave as well, then."

He turned to the other members of his team who just finished disposing of the Lamia's corpse. "Everyone! We're done here!"

And with that, all the Tengu flew off through the open ceiling with the others trailing behind him, leaving me standing alone under the moonlit sky. It seems like I won't be getting any sleep for quite a while. With a heavy heart, and a worried mind, I started on my way back to base. I won't tell the others about this for now. They have to focus on the other mission we have right now anyways.

* * *

 **AN:** So I don't normally have an extra note down here, but I kind of just wanted to explain a gag that really only comes through in Japanese. When Miharu mentions March's virginity, she uses the word "shoujo" which is a kind of slang used for a female's virginity. A male's virginity is supposed to be referred to as "doutei". So yeah. Use your imagination.

* * *

 **-Personnel Dossier-**

 **Code Name:** Ricochet

 **Real Name:** Unknown

 **Fake Name:** March Jaeger

 **Affiliation:** Ashen Phoenix

 **Stats:**

 **Combat:** A+

 **R &D:** B++

 **Base Operations:** A

 **Support:** S

 **Medical:** C

 **Skill Set:**

 **Sidearm Mastery:** The skill to be able to wield any kind of handgun with deadly efficiency.

 **Dual wield Proficiency:** The skill to be able to skillfully handle two sidearms at once.

 **Tactical Genius:** The skill to be able to masterfully plan and execute operations.

 **Titles:**

 **Mastermind:** Granted to those with the uncanny ability to lead. Ricochet has an unparalleled tactical mind, and has can successfully plan out strategies through years of experience.

 **Ricochet:** The ability to rebound bullets off of objects and hit a target.

* * *

 **Code Name:** Recon

 **Real Name:** Unknown

 **Fake Name:** Rebecca Holmes

 **Affiliation:** Ashen Phoenix

 **Stats:**

 **Combat:** S++

 **R &D:** D

 **Base Operations:** C+

 **Support:** A+

 **Medical:** C

 **Skill Set:**

 **Firearms Mastery:** The skill to be able to skillfully handle any type of ranged weapon with deadly precision.

 **Martial Prowess:** The skill of being proficient in any school of martial art.

 **Stealth Proficiency:** The skill to be able to successfully infiltrate enemy lines most of the time.

 **Titles:**

 **Deadshot:** A title granted to those who can achieve a near 100% accuracy with any kind of projectile weapon available. Although Recon is mostly a sniper, she's proficient in all kinds of ranged weapons.

 **Recon:** The ability to successfully scope out enemy forces with a high accuracy rating. This includes numbers, weapons, encampment, etc.

* * *

 **Code Name:** Bashnya (Tower)

 **Real Name:** Unknown

 **Fake Name:** Aleksei Glaskov

 **Affiliation:** Ashen Phoenix

 **Stats:**

 **Combat:** S

 **R &D:** B++

 **Base Operations:** A+

 **Support:** A++

 **Medical:** B+

 **Skill Set:**

 **Firearm Proficiency:** The skill to be able to skillfully handle any type of ranged weapon.

 **Martial Prowess:** The skill of being proficient in any school of martial art.

 **Explosives Expert:** The skill to be able to handle and defuse explosives with both speed and accuracy.

 **Hacking Proficiency:** The skill to be able to hack through most systems.

 **Titles:**

 **Jack of All Trades:** A title granted to those who are proficient in many different fields of expertise. Bashnya is skilled in fields ranging from combat, demolition, and tracking, to fields like hacking, first aid, and espionage.

 **Tower:** Bashnya's huge stature and muscular build allows for him to carry and wear heavy equipment. When in the field, he usually wears a full-body ballistics suit with heavy metal plating and he carries a custom-made shield to protect his comrades.

* * *

 **Codename:** Doktor

 **Real Name:** Erik Fuchs

 **Fake Name:** Karl Faust

 **Affiliation:** Ashen Phoenix

 **Stats:**

 **Combat:** D++

 **R &D:** A++

 **Base Operations:** A+

 **Support:** B+

 **Medical:** S++

 **Skill Set:**

 **Expert Surgeon:** The skill that involves unparalleled medical skills.

 **Emergency First Aid Mastery:** The skill to be able to administer first aid, even against all odds, at a short notice.

 **Expert Technician:** The skill that involves expert knowledge in engineering fields.

 **Titles:**

 **Developer:** A title granted to those who have a creative mind for inventions. As of now, Doktor is possibly the world's only bionics engineer/surgeon and he continues to further his research into the field of study.

 **Doktor:** Doktor got this title because, well, he's the team's only medic right now.

* * *

 **Code Name:** (N/A)

 **Real Name:** Kalawarner

 **Fake Name:** Kanako Kawakami

 **Affiliation:** Ashen Phoenix

 **Stats:**

 **Combat:** D+

 **R &D:** E

 **Base Operations:** E

 **Support:** D

 **Medical:** E

 **Skill Set:**

(N/A)

 **Titles:**

(N/A)

* * *

 **Code Name:** (N/A)

 **Real Name:** Mittelt

 **Fake Name:** Miko Nishimori

 **Affiliation:** Ashen Phoenix

 **Stats:**

 **Combat:** D+

 **R &D:** E

 **Base Operations:** E

 **Support:** D

 **Medical:** E

 **Skill Set:**

(N/A)

 **Titles:**

(N/A)

* * *

 **Code Name:** (N/A)

 **Real Name:** (N/A)

 **Fake Name:** Miharu Kokonoe

 **Affiliation:** Ashen Phoenix

 **Stats:**

 **Combat:** S

 **R &D:** E

 **Base Operations:** D

 **Support:** B++

 **Medical:** E++

 **Skill Set:**

(N/A)

 **Titles:**

(N/A)


End file.
